MLB suing South Florida anti-aging clinic

Saturday

Mar 23, 2013 at 8:00 AM

By Curt Anderson THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Major League Baseball on Friday sued a now-shuttered South Florida clinic and its operators, accusing them of scheming to provide banned performance-enhancing drugs to players in violation of their contracts.

The lawsuit in Miami-Dade Circuit Court seeks unspecified damages from Coral Gables anti-aging clinic Biogenesis of America and its operator, Anthony Bosch. Several other Bosch associates are named in the lawsuit.

A phone message left for a Bosch representative wasn’t immediately returned, and associates have previously said Anthony Bosch is out of the country.

MLB contends the clinic’s operators solicited players to use banned substances knowing that would violate their contracts, specifically the drug prevention and treatment program that became effective in 2003. That program, part of baseball’s collective bargaining agreement with players, includes a list of banned substances, lays out penalties for violations, and imposes testing requirements.

Because of the alleged conspiracy, the lawsuit contends MLB has suffered “costs of investigation, loss of goodwill, loss of revenue and profits and injury to its reputation, image, strategic advantage and fan relationships,” attorneys Allen Weitzman and Matthew Menchel wrote in the complaint.

Although it seeks money damages, the lawsuit also could provide a way for MLB to more deeply investigate Biogenesis and Bosch through depositions of witnesses and subpoenas to obtain documents.

MLB was rebuffed in an effort to obtain clinic records from the alternative Miami New Times newspaper, which has published detailed accounts of the alleged player drug use.